Zara Lain Joins the Resistance

I have a new short story available–it’s set post-Oblivion and it’s about Zara Lain and her saber-tooth cat Rodney killing fascists and punching Nazis.

At present, it’s only available for Patrons of Snark. I’ve debated releasing it elsewhere–the writer friend who proofed it for me thinks it’s something fun that people need to read right now–but I also don’t want to be arrested or assassinated by some crazies south of the border, so right now the only place you’ll find it is at Patreon. There is other exclusive stuff there, like another Demons of Oblivion short story called Prey (it has Zara, Rodney, Nate, Nic, and other new people), and the Zara novella Dial V for Vampire is exclusive there for patrons at $5 and up, plus regular excerpts both of upcoming books and unpublished ones. (And I have Patreon in order to buy much-needed monthly medication–these are the people who keep me well, so I offer as many exclusives as I can.)

While it’s a giddily graphically violent story I wrote purely for fun, I truly felt like punching Nazis, and few of my characters are quite as adept as Zara would be at that (although Ryann would likely explode and take tremendous pleasure in it, even more so than Z). This is a time for punching Nazis. This is a time for resisting. This is a time for fighting tooth and nail for everything you’ve ever believed in; if you’ve ever said “I would do such and such during WWII/random part of human history where something terrible is happening”, NOW IS THE TIME FOR THAT.

No one is coming to save you; now you save yourself. And your neighbours. And the people you don’t know but who need you.

Now is when you find any way possible to fight, to be the kind of hero you have surrounded yourself with in your entertainment. You take the lessons from women who fight monsters, and pick yourself up and keep going, using everything at your disposal. You remember it’s fine to dream of The Green Place, but this time you have to turn around and take back the citadel.

And yes, sometimes you have to punch some fucking Nazis.

You find what you can do, and you do it. Make calls, speak out. March. Write. Shine a light on the darkness. Offer sanctuary, offer hope. Make the world safer for the vulnerable, and uncomfortable for the oppressor. Say in no uncertain terms to those around you that you will not stand for white supremacy. Remember: “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” Challenge yourself to make changes to the system that allows hate and fascism to flourish. Get educated about the ugly history of this country so you can recognize the same tactics being used now. White folks: look to what civil rights leaders have done in the past and what they’re doing now, and align yourselves with them as they’re leading this fight and if anyone has any hope of succeeding, it’s them–particularly women of color. Be supportive of them, listen, and show up for them.

Be wary of this man and his cronies causing all this strife right now, but do not fear them, because they are predictable: they are following a playbook here, and they are typical abusers. Women in particular who have survived abuse, who have clawed their way out of the grasps of men who thought they owned them and could control reality: you got this. You know what these men are doing, you’ve seen it before–albeit not on this large of a scale–and you are uniquely qualified to fight a fascist regime. You can look ten moves ahead of them and be ready to resist on all fronts. You know what gaslighting looks like. You, the oppressed, knows the oppressor better than he can ever know you, and it is through this knowledge that you can win. You have been through this and you will not go back.

The future waiting on the other side of this is murky right now and not everyone will survive, but resisting is the first step toward ensuring there is a future in the first place.

“There is only one thing on this earth more powerful than evil–and that’s us.”

Do not go gentle into that good night; rage, rage against the dying of the light–and RESIST. And punch Nazis.